Multimodal Chewing Gum Flavour Training to Aid Flavour Perception Recovery - a Pilot Study.

Summary

Olfactory training is developed for people who have partly or completely lost their sense of smell (olfactory dysfunction). Participants expose themselves to odours twice daily for usually 12 weeks or longer. It has been proven to effectively help people improve their sense of smell. However, when abnormal flavour perception is reported it may involve not only a dysfunctional sense of smell, but also taste and trigeminal perception (e.g. burning from chilly, cooling from mint, etc.). The stimulation of multiple sensations can theoretically enhance overall flavour perception. Therefore, we propose a pilot study to test the feasibility testing multi-sensation flavour impairment training approach using chewing gum that target sensations of smell, taste and trigeminal. This will be in comparison with an existing olfactory training approach.

Individuals (aged 18 to 65) with changed flavour perception (self-perceived, within 3 months to 2 years) will be invited to take part in this study. Participants will be randomly and evenly allocated to 3 groups which are: flavour impairment training using chewing gum (FIT), olfactory training (OT) using smelling strips, and a waiting list control group (CTR) (delaying FIT training for 12 weeks). In the first two groups, a 12-week training will be conducted. The training will be undertaken twice a day (in the morning and evening). All participants will use four flavours in a pre-determined and randomised order. One flavour of chewing gum (FIT group) or smelling strips (OT group) will be used each time. Each training session is expected to last around 3 minutes. In addition to the training, all participants will be asked to pay two visits to the lab, once before and once after completing the 12-week training, or the 12-week wait, to evaluate their flavour (smell, taste and trigeminal) perception capability. Participants will also be asked to conduct flavour perception tests at home before and after training following instructions to evaluate if their flavour perception capability has improved due to the training. The OT group and the CTR group will be offered the FIT treatment after they have undertaken the 12 weeks of their study group allocation.

Conditions

• Anosmia
• Parosmia
• Phantosmia
• Dysgeusia
• Ageusia

Interventions

OTHER

Flavour impairment training using chewing gum group (FIT)

Participants are randomly allocated to chew gum twice a day for 12 weeks whilst at home.

OTHER

Olfactory training group (OT)

Participants are randomly allocated to smell liquid flavouring twice a day for 12 weeks whilst at home.

OTHER

Waiting list control group

Participants are randomly allocated once baseline data has been collected to a waiting list control group where no action will be taken.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• TasteTech

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Nottingham

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ni Yang, PhD · University of Nottingham

• Rebecca Ford, PhD · University of Nottingham

• Moira A Taylor, PhD · University of Nottingham

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-21

Primary Completion

2026-03-19

Completion

2026-03-19

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations